While prosecutors painted Long Island banana baron Thomas Hoey Jr. as a man who pocketed money from his company's pension fund to live in the lap of luxury, his lawyer countered the money-moving was "no big deal," and used to help a struggling company.

Hoey's lawyer, Dominic Amorosa, admitted that moving retirement money to Long Island Banana's corporate coffers was a "problem" — but hardly as egregious as prosecutors allege in their embezzlement case against him.